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Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo a Tor di Quinto
'''Preziossisimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo a Tor di Quinto '''is a mid 20th century parish and titular church at Via Flaminia 732/T in the Tor di Quinto quarter. A picture of the church on Wikimedia Commons is here, and another here. Name The dedication is to the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The church's official name and the cardinalate title are the same -''Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo. '' This is causing serious confusion, because there are other three other churches in the city with the same dedication -Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo ad Appio Latino, Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo al Laterano and Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo dei Missioni Estere. History The church as it stands was designed by Nello Ena, and completed in 1957. The parish was set up in the same year. However, it seems that the original project was partly abortive and that the present, rather cramped edifice was originally intended to be a meeting-hall. The proposed permanent church was not begun. The church was made titular in 2007, and the present cardinal priest is John Njue. Exterior The church has no civic presence at all, and it must be a strong contender for the title of the most boring and obscure of all the titular churches of Rome. The street frontage is occupied by a wall, and behind it at the location of a little fuel station is a garden which would have been the site of the permanent church if it had been built (there is no chance of this happening now). Nearer the street is an ancillary block, on the plan of a hexagon stretched along the major axis and so leaving two diagonal walls at each end. One end faces the street behind the garden wall, and the other end abuts the church. The church also has the plan of a similar stretched hexagon. The bottom right hand diagonal wall of the entrance frontage of the church is party with the top left hand diagonal wall of the ancillary block, so the two edifices are joined structurally. A corridor runs down the right hand side of the church to access sacristy accommodation behind the altar end. The church is a single nave of five bays, without any separate sanctuary. The fabric of the church consists of a reinforced concrete frame, and red brick infill walls with concrete eaves at the roofline. Each bay has a rectangular window in clear glass towards the top of the wall on each side. The roof has a double pitch, and is in a red composition (not tiled). There is no campanile. The entrance occupies the left hand diagonal wall at the near end of the church, which is mostly a blank red brick wall. However, a section of the wall near the left hand side is coffered in brick rectangles. There are two entrance portals accessed via three steps up, separated by a rectangular brick pier. The only other decoration is a thin cross on the wall above. Interior The interior is dominated by the concrete roof, which is supported by concrete pilasters on each side which taper to their base. The top of each pilaster supports two deep ribs, and these ribs intersect to form a row of large lozenge coffers on each side of the ridge-line. There is no structurally separate sanctuary. The top end of the church is walled off with a straight wall with the sacristy behind, accessed by a pair of doors at each end within portals with angled tops. There is a very shallow apse behind the altar, sheltered by two pairs of V-shaped concrete ribs meeting at the ridge-line and so corresponding to the design of the nave roof. The apse contains a large painted wooden crucifix hung on an unpainted wooden backing carved to evoke a set of nested crosses. The wall surfaces are otherwise in white, with the ribs and pilasters in light grey. Liturgy Mass is celebrated (parish website, July 2018): Weekdays 9:00, 19:00; Sundays and Solemnities 9:00, 10:30, 12:00, 19:00. There is Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament daily from 6:00 to 24:00. The Divine Office is celebrated with Lauds daily after the 9:00 Mass, also on Thursdays only Vespers at 18:30 and Compline at 21:50. Rosary is recited on Tuesdays at 21:00, and Thursdays after Lauds. External links Official diocesan web-page Italian Wikipedia page Parish website Info.roma web-page Beweb web-page Category:Catholic churches Category:Dedications to Jesus Christ Category:Outside the walls - North-West Category:Parish churches Category:20th century Category:Titular churches